Contra la censura

This is an analysis of censorship from the perspective of someone who has had to live and work in its shadow. The essays included in this volume seek to understand the passion that acts when imposing silence and censorship. Coetzee argues that a destructive dynamic of animosity and increasing belligerence often affects rivals in any arena where censorship exists. From Osip Mandelstam's order to compose an ode to Stalin, to Breyten Breytenbah writing poems under the watchful eye of his prison guards, to Alexander Solzhenitsyn's duel of wits with the organs of the Soviet state, the book focuses on how writers have faced censorship throughout history, from Erasmus to the system imposed by apartheid, and analyzes the arguments that seek the prohibition of pornography, a common victim of censorship.